Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1887-02-26

ries are secured they are certain to
be of the third grade.
The fuel is stinted. The stoves
are often bad. A severe winter tells
upon the health of the children. IN
derclothing is rarely used. The
boys do without overcoats, and the
giIls either stay in the house or are
rugged out in cloaks made over from
old garments. To be fully dressed
in clothes of poorest quality is the
highest privilege the workman can
win, which would not matter much
if the clothes were a real protection.
There is a class of people who live
in this half-civilized way. Ill-fed,
ill-housed, illclothed in childhood
and youth, is not this starving the
generation to death? 1t is a starya.
ton of the soul as well as the body,
for these families have no time to
look after their souls in the sharp
struggle for mere lite. Their bodies
grow up to speedy decay, and too
often their souls are already dead.
The workman of the dollar-a. day
class has two courses open to him
to starye slowly or to die Of over.
work in comfort. The irony of this
last phrase ought to touch the hearts
of reverend preachers preaching the
wastefulness of the poor, who are
often wasteful, but oftener extrava-
gantly generous to their own and
their friends. We have made it
tolerably certain in this paper that
man cannot be either wasteiul or
lavish on the common rate of wages,
and we hope the foolish charge
against the class of workmen will be
dropped.
Overwork and starvation are one
result of too low wages. 1t is a
striking proof of the patience of the
workman that he bears with his
miserable lot as long as it can be
borne-that is to say, as long as he
has strength to work extra hours or
to exist on unwholesome' food. His
patience is too often mistaken for
content, and his success in making
ends meet for prosperity. The cruel
element in capital grows eager to
lower his wages another degree, and
so we must continue to count on
coal combinations and Pinkerton
pretorians.
This aforesaid element has many
methods of destruction besides the
simple one of reducing wages.
Adulteration is one of it's weapons,
and thus it is entitled to the epitheu
filthy. The poor must buy the
cheapest. The cheapest nowadays
is the adulterated-cotton cloth rot
ten with sizing and poisonous with
inferior dyes; woollen cloth made
from shoddy; paper leather; sugar,
tea, coffee, and butter that poison ;
canned refuse, diseased meat, and
some fifty other denominations that
befoul the mouth in their mention.
The very liquors, wines, and beers
which degrade when at their best
are mostly poisonous slop when they
reach the workman. Legitimate
goods stand no chance with them.
We are assured by statistIcians
that this country furnishes an
abundance of the necessaries and
comforts of life, although so many
suffer for want of them. Are they
being wasted or destroyed The
poor have little for purposes of
waste. and the prosperous are too
careful of their goods to throw them
away. Where, then, is the seat Of
the trouble9 Has some one more
than his share? In the midst of
plenty perhaps two or three millions
of people are slowly wasting for
want of good food.-REv. j. tai
BOT SMITH in Catholic World for
March.